Super Contra - Arcade - Shmup, Platformer 2D (4k 60fps)
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🔫 🔥 Bigger guns. Badder aliens. Even more explosions. 🔥 🔫
Today we’re loading up and running into the line of fire with Super Contra, Konami’s 1987 arcade sequel to their iconic run-and-gun shooter. If Contra was the game that defined arcade action, Super Contra is the follow-up that turned everything up to 11. With new weapons, vertical levels, and brutal difficulty, it aimed to deliver more chaos, more carnage, and even more quarter-munching. Let’s see if this one still earns its stripes—or if it’s just a harder reskin of the original.
🎮 Game Overview
In Super Contra (aka Super C in its NES port), you once again take control of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, the ultimate commandos, now tasked with eliminating a new alien threat that’s corrupted an entire army.
The game features a mix of side-scrolling and top-down vertical-scrolling stages, each packed with enemy soldiers, turrets, mechs, alien beasts, and massive bosses. Gameplay is fast and unforgiving, and you'll need lightning reflexes and sharp aim to make it past the alien-infested warzones.
✅ Pros
✔ Classic Run-and-Gun Action: The controls are tight, the pacing is relentless, and the screen is constantly filled with things trying to kill you.
✔ Co-op Chaos: Like the original, Super Contra shines in two-player mode—double the firepower, double the explosions.
✔ Expanded Level Design: The introduction of top-down vertically-scrolling stages adds variety and keeps things from feeling too linear.
✔ New Weapons: Along with the classic spread gun, you get access to laser, flame throwers, and rapid fire upgrades, each offering a different playstyle.
✔ Killer Boss Fights: Massive bosses like alien worms, gunships, and heart-like core creatures make every level climax with a bang.
✔ Classic Konami Visual Style: Smooth animations, detailed sprites, and that sci-fi/military mashup aesthetic give it a timeless retro look.
✔ High-Octane Soundtrack: The music is loud, catchy, and pure 80s action cheese—it’ll get your adrenaline pumping.
❌ Cons
✘ Brutally Difficult: The game is faster and harder than the original Contra, with enemy bullets flying the second you spawn and little room for error.
✘ One-Hit Deaths: As always, one mistake = death, and without the NES version’s Konami Code, you're gonna lose a lot of lives.
✘ Repetitive Enemy Types: A lot of the enemy designs feel recycled, with minor palette swaps or behavior tweaks.
✘ Short Playtime: Once mastered, you can beat the game in 20–25 minutes, though it'll likely take many credits to get there.
✘ Less Memorable Than Contra: While it’s bigger and tougher, Super Contra doesn’t quite have the iconic status or stage variety of the original.
💥 Verdict
Super Contra (Arcade) is a faster, meaner, and louder sequel that delivers exactly what fans wanted—more bullets, more bosses, more badassery. While it’s punishing and sometimes overwhelming, its tight gameplay and frantic pacing make it a worthy successor to the original Contra.
If you’re into retro run-and-guns, co-op carnage, or just love seeing screen-filling explosions, Super Contra still hits hard. Just be ready to die. A lot.
Final Score: 8/10 – A tough-as-nails sequel that doubles down on the chaos.
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